Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-01-28
FLY Low.
Remember Thy Days of Sin, Of Youth
ful Wanderings, Of Manhood Trans
gressions and be Humble.
Flee as Dove from the Fiery Eye and
Iron Beak and Loaths0me Falcon
of Your Besetling Sin.
Take Refuge in the Dove cote of Chris;
from Storm, Sin, sorrow, Degra-
daIion and Death.
Special to the Gazette.

Special to the Gazette.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, Jan. 23.-The Rev.
T. Dewitt Talmage's sermon to-day Was
preached at the reception of sos new
members, making the commandment mem
bership of the Brooklyn Tabernacle $3.50.
1t was day memorable in the history Of
this church. The reverend Doctors text
was Isaiah TX, 8: "Who are these that fly
as cloud and as the doves to their win
dows?" He preached as follows:
When God would set fast a beautiful
thought He plants it in tree; when He
would put it eff Jat He fashions it into q
fish; when He would have it glide in the
air He mOulds it into bird. There is to
many of US q complete fascination in the
structure and ha otis of birds. The black
bird floating like a fake of darkness
through the sunlight; the meadow lark
with head Of fawn and throat OF velvet
and breast of gold; the red tlamingo fly
ing over the Southern swamps like SPARKS
from the forge of the setting sun; the
pelican, white and black, morning and
night tangled in its wings. They seem
not more of earth than heaven, ever vacil-
lating between the two. No wonder that
Audubon, with his gun, tramped through
all the American forests in search of new
specimens. Biologists have spent years
in finding the track Of a birds claw in the
new red sandstone. There is enough OF
Gods architecture in
AsNEPE's BILL
or a grouse's foot to confound all the
universities.
Musicians have with clefs and bars
tried 10 catch the sound of the nigh,in-
gale and the robin. Among the first
things that a child notices is swallow at
the caves; and grandfather goes out with
q handful of crumbs to feed the snow
birds. The Bible is full of ornithologlcal
illusions. The birds of the Bible are not
dead and stuffed like those OF the mus
cum, but living birds with fiuttering
wings and plumage. "Beh0ld the fowls
of the air." says Christ. "Though thou
exalt myself as the eagle and though thou
set thy nest among the stars, thence viii
] bring thee down." eXClaims Obadiah.
"Gavest Thou the goodly wings TO the
peacock" says Job. David describes
his desolation by saying: al am like
pelican of the wilderness; am like az
owl of the desert; | watch, and am as q
sparrow upon the house top" "Yea, the
stork in the heaven knoWeth her appoint
ed time; and the turtle and the crane aud
the swallow observe the time of their
coming, but my people know not the judg-
ment of the Lord" so says jeremiah
And in the text Isaiah looks ahead and
sees the gathering Of many people unto
Christ and the church, and it makes him
think of a flock of pigeons alightlng on
their coop, and all at once trying to get
in at the window of the coop, and he cries
out: "Who are these that fly as cloud
and as the doves to their windows?"
This is one of the memorable days of
the Brooky YIN Tabernacle. On other Sun
days we drop the net; to-day we haul it
in. On other days we send out the invi-
tations for kings party; to-day we sit
at the banquet. On other days we fight
the battle; now we claim the victory
our Lord Jesus Christ. Ye who
have toiled and contributed and prayed
for the success CT
THIS INSTITUTION,
take unto your souls the grand satisfac-
ton of this hour. To you, o men
and women! is fulfilled the promise:
"They that sow in tears shall reap in
Joy" Wake up! 0 church of God! and
bring garlands aud music and let Us Gel
citrate our "harvest home"
o, this mercy of God! l am told it is
an ocean. Then place on it four swift |
sailing crafts, with compass and charts |
and choice rigging ard skillful navigators |
and tell them to launch away and dis |
cover for me the extent of this ocean. |
That craft puts out in one direction and |
sails to the north, this to the south, this |
to the east, this TO the west. They crowd |
on all their canvas and sail ten thousand |
years, and one day come up the haTbor of |
heaven, and l shout to them from the
beach: "Have you found the shore?"
And they answer: "NO shore to Gods !
mercy" Swift angels dispatched from
the throne attempt to go across it. For
a million years they fly and fly, but then
come back and fold their wings at the
foot of the throne and cry: "No shore,
no shore to Gods meIcv!" Mercy!
Mercy! | sing il. 1 preach it. I pray
it. Here | find a man bound hand and
foot to the devil, but with one stroke of
the hammer of Gods truth the chains fall
off and he is free forever. Mercy.
Mercy! Mercy! There is no depth it
cannot fathom; there is no height it can
not scale; there is no infnity it cannot
compass.
When persons apply for membership
into any society the question is asked:
'WhD are they and where do they come
from?" and as this multitude of people
to-day present themselves for member
ship, it is right that we should ask:
''Who are these that come as doves to
their windows?" They are captives
whose chains have been broken; they are
soldiers who have enlisted for thirty
years. war They are heirs of heaven.
They come as doves to the windows,
first, because they fly low. The eagle
iarts up, as if to strike its beak into tne
sun. There are birds that seem TO dwell
lnder
THE EAvES OF HEAVEN.
on see them as little specks against tbe
ky. SO far off that yon cannot guess the
style of their plumage or the shape OF
heir bodies. They float so far away that
the hunters gun be discharged st them
hey do not change their course. Not so
with the doves or pigeons, they never
axe any high excursions. They fly
around your roof and alight on the fence
Ind seem to dislike great attitudes. So
hese souls who come to Christ and to :
lis church to-day fly low. They ask no
great things; they seek an humole place
It the feet of Christ. They are not '
Ishamed to be called beggars for mercy; {
hey are willing to get down on their {
,nees, and to crawl under the table, and I
o pick up the crumbs of Gospel provi- i
ion. There were days when they were I
'roud and punct lious and memorable and I
'ufed up; but not now. The
ighest throne of earth {
ould not tempt Mary away t
rom Jesus feet Stoop, oh pardoned Y
oul, If thou wouldst enter heaven. A 4
Ugh look and proud heart God hates. t
ly low. 1t is mercy that thou canst c
y at all. Remember all the years of thy b
in: thy daYs of YOnthfnl wandering: thy